ΤΟ

THE WIDE FAMILY OF THE

Bereaved,

AND

SPECIALLY TO BEREAVED PARENTS,

This Volume

IS DEDICATED.

Happier are ye, little ascending beams, and

"Ephemera die all at sunset, and no insect of this class has ever sported in the beams of the morning sun. human ephemera! Ye played only in the in early dawn, and in the eastern light ye drank only of the prelibations of life; hovered for a little space over a world of freshness and of blossoms, and fell asleep in innocence before yet the morning dew was exhaled."-RICHTER.

"She passed away at 37: just when life—I mean her life of conspicuous influence, was beginning."- LETTERS FROM ABROAD.

PREFACE.

ONE among a number of Jewish traditions asserts, that in the Temple of Jerusalem there was a Gate open only to Mourners.

It is so with the present Volume. If I may except, so far, the concluding portions, it is designed alone for the Bereaved. Written words are often acceptable and soothing when any other intrusion is forbidden on the sacredness of sorrow.

Let it be stated at the outset, that, for the contents of this Manual, saving the few fragmentary Verse-quotations in the opening chapter, the Writer is alone responsible. In other words, it is not a compilation for which he is indebted to others. It would, however, have been impossible for him to sit down to its composition had it demanded, from first to last, original, or rather unpublished matter. For so long sustained a minor strain he would have been quite unequal. While,

therefore, containing, and that to a considerable extent, entirely fresh material,—specially at the beginning and the close, he felt, and feels it far better to fall back in other parts on selections from former writings, or rather portions of them, which were at the time addressed to those early bereaved. Such occasions occur in the course of every ministry: specially with any who can in thought re-traverse the better part of half a century. Many a "still small voice" is embraced in such a retrospect, with frequent sad,-often overwhelming associations. In most cases, if not in every one, these extracts are curtailed or expanded,—some very materially so, and all are otherwise adapted to suit the requirements of the volume. This applies to the

poetical portions, as well as to the prose.1

1 Among the writer's prose works from which selections have been made are " Memories of Bethany," 39.66 'Gennesaret," "Olivet," and "Patmos," ," "The Prophet of Fire," "Sunsets on the Hebrew Mountains," "The Shepherd and His Flock," "Palms of Elim," " Grapes of Eshcol," "Comfort Ye," "The First Bereavement," "Noontide at Sychar," "In Christo," &c. From the author's Poetry and Hymns, extracts have been taken from "Altar-Stones," "Gates of Praise," "Curfew Chimes," " Wells of Baca," "The Anchor and the Haven."

It may be well farther to state, that there has been no attempt to link the intermediate meditations together by any train of consecutive thought: Each is independent of what precedes or follows. On this account (and indeed unavoidable from the nature of the theme) there may be an occasional recurrence of similar ideas or reflections. But, reading for profit, not for criticism, this will be readily understood and ondoned by those for whom the volume is written.